CANBERRA, May 12: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Thursday said that Pakistan was likely to sign a counter-terrorism pact with Australia next month when President General Pervez Musharraf would be on the first-ever visit to Australia by a Pakistani head of state. Talking to newsmen after meeting his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer, Mr Kasuri said the president would visit Australia from June 13-16.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistani army’s drive against Al Qaeda had paralysed its communications network and ‘vastly reduced’ its capacity to strike. In reply to a question about the prospects of capturing Osama bin Laden, he said if the Al Qaeda chief was still alive he was assumed to be continually on the move between the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The second assessment, and a fair one, would be that he would not be moving with a large group of people, otherwise he’d be detected,” he added. The foreign minister said it showed that Pakistani army’s operations “have effectively paralysed the communications network of Al Qaeda, both horizontally and vertically.”

The Australian foreign minister said the memorandum of understanding to be signed next month could involve exchanging intelligence information.

“There is no doubt there are links” between Al Qaeda and regional groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah, Mr Downer said.

“There have been links between Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah and the more we can exchange information, the more we can track down those links, and our regional partners as well as the US (can) take steps to deal with them.”

He was hopeful that the two countries would sign an MoU on counter-terrorism during President Musharraf’s visit.

“There’s no doubt about it that Pakistan has been doing a good job in its work against Al Qaeda and we appreciate that and I think if we had a memorandum of understanding we could enhance our cooperation.”

The Australian minister cited the arrest last week by Pakistan of Abu Farraj Al Libbi as an example of the excellent work Pakistan had done in the fight against terrorism.

Asked if Al Libbi would be handed over to the United States, Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had “a very strong vested interest” given the attempts made allegedly by Al Libbi on the president’s life.

“But we’ve had a track record. . .of sharing intelligence with all our friends, and we have very strong links with United States,” he said.

“So at the moment he’s in the custody of the Pakistan government and until all issues are cleared, there’s no question he’s being handed over to anybody else,” Mr Kasuri added.—Agencies

Our Staff Reporter adds from Islamabad: Meanwhile, Mr Kasuri called on Australian Prime Minister John Howard. During meetings, the two countries agreed to upgrade relations and finalized agreements to hold regular consultations and increase cooperation against terrorism and in the field of post-graduate education and agriculture, said a statement issued by the foreign office. Prime Minister Howard accepted the invitation to visit Pakistan in the near future, it said.